E-reader

Sharp has revealed plans to launch an e-bookstore and a couple of color tablets/e-book readers in Japan by the end of the year. While the few thousand offerings from online bookstore at launch is unlikely to make a huge dent in Amazon's or B&N's user base, the Galapagos mobile and home tablets look promising. Detailed specifications are sadly lacking but they will both be able to get online wirelessly, play multimedia content and come pre-installed with social networking applications to allow the sharing of comments and favorites with friends and family. Read More

Nestled amongst ten new products launched by Elonex at IFA 2010 were a threesome of eTouch tablet computers. Powered by the company's own ARM-based LNX processor and running on the Android platform, there are a couple of 7-inch (17.78 cm) models and a 10-inch (25.4 cm) version – all with backlit touchscreen displays, 2GB of storage and Wi-Fi connectivity. Gizmag visited the Elonex booth to have a look at the e-Readers and tablets on offer. Read More

The graphite and display overhaul that Amazon gave its Kindle DX earlier in the month has now been applied to its third generation 6-inch model. The new Kindle will be available with 3G and Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi only, is 15 percent lighter and 21 percent smaller than its predecessor but still retains the 6-inch display and now comes with double the storage capacity. Read More

Sharp has announced that its Next-generation XMDF (ever-eXtending Mobile Document Format) standard will be a digital platform for e-book distribution with compatible reader devices to be launched as well, possibly within the year. While the XMDF format has been in use for years already, primarily within Japan, this new 'Next generation' prefix does make the format notable as a competitor in the ebook space. Previously just for text and still images, the refreshed XMDF standard now supports video and audio display as well. Read More

Velocity Micro is getting ready to release a couple of 7 inch full color Android e-Readers and a similarly-sized Android tablet computer. The Cruz reader features a resistive touchscreen, wireless connectivity, the Kobo eBook reading application and internet browsing functionality. The Cruz tablet differs only in touchscreen technology, storage capacity and wireless connectivity and the StoryPad has been created especially for kids. Read More

The Elonex 710EB eBook with full color screen first outed in April this year has now reached pre-order status with a UK availability date of July 31. The 7-inch e-Reader uses an LED backlit LCD display rather than e-Ink, benefits from wireless connectivity, will double up as a photo viewer or media player and has an 8 hour battery life. Read More

Huge, heavy reference tomes are still a major part of modern study and research. If you've ever wished that those textbooks in front of you could come to life and offer a more engaging experience than just reading through reams of text, then the Kno could be what you're looking for. Weighing in at 5.5 pounds, the dual-screen electronic textbook will offer students access to a wealth of published educational material as well as wireless access to the internet and multimedia content such as high definition video. Just like with its paper cousin, the Kno will also allow for note-taking, highlighting and bookmarking. Read More

So how do you stand out from the e-Reader crowd at Computex? You pop up with the only color A4 sized e-paper device, that's how. Rather than using e-Ink or LCD technology, the 13 inch color display of the e-Magazine from Delta Electronics benefits from e-paper technology developed in partnership with Japan's Bridgestone Corporation. Read More

Sometimes it pays to sit back a while and wait to see what everyone else has to offer before revealing your own hand. But at this late stage, what could any manufacturer possibly bring to the e-Reader table? Well, in addition to offering wireless connectivity, access to a vast library of eBook content, a QWERTY keyboard and a 6 inch e-Ink display, the LumiRead e-Reader from Acer also allows users to scan ISBN codes on actual books to help quickly locate their digital counterparts. Read More

Asus kicked off Computex 2010 today with the announcement of three tablets, the Eee Tablet, the 12" Eee Pad EP121 and the 10" Eee Pad EP101TC. The biggest surprise? Asus is claiming an iPad-like ten hour battery life for all three devices. With battery life being such a crucial benchmark for tablets, we hope this figure holds up to real world usage. Read More